On June 16, UEFA’s Under-21 Championship will begin in Poland. There has perhaps never been a competition of such quality at this level, with the setup of the competition meaning that even one slip could prove to be fatal.
With three groups of four and only one team guaranteed to progress in each, there will be no easing into the tournament.
Several of the traditional European heavyweights are present, most notably England, Portugal Germany and Italy, not to mention defending champions Sweden. With the stakes high from the outset, all of these big guns have full internationals in their ranks, and some even have household names ready to show their qualities against their peers.
But there are those who have gone under the radar a little, ready to explode into the mainstream consciousness. Here are five such players capable of shining on this stage and making their big breakthrough.
#1 Tammy Abraham (Chelsea & England)
There are many talented youngsters on the periphery of Chelsea’s first-team squad. The Blues have become famous for farming players out on loan, but arguably no one has been as successful away from the club this season as 19-year-old striker Tammy Abraham was with Bristol City.
He scored more goals than any other teenager in England’s second flight as he helped the Ashton Gate side avoid relegation, finishing the campaign with 23. Equally capable of playing in the wide roles in a front three as he is through the middle, his target is to transfer his club form onto the international scene and ensure that Chelsea offer him a new contract.
#2 Laszlo Benes (Borussia Monchengladbach & Slovakia)
Aged just 19, Benes is the great hope of Slovakian football, having been tipped as the natural successor to Marek Hamsik. Indeed, he has even been called up into the senior national squad, although he has yet to make his debut.
The Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder played eight times in the Bundesliga last season, featuring with increasing prominence as the campaign wore to a close and scored the winning goal against Hertha Berlin – his first at senior level. Noted for his energetic play and shooting from range, Arsenal are among the sides keeping tabs on the youngster.
#3 Mikkel Duelund (Midtjylland & Denmark)
The tale of the young Danish winger is an interesting one, as he has elected to stay in his home country with Midtjylland rather than move to England, where Liverpool were among the clubs reportedly interested in him. He has quickly become a hit domestically and is the fourth highest teenage scorer ever in the Superliga, despite playing as a midfielder.
By all accounts, the 19-year-old, who is the third youngest member of the Denmark squad that will travel to Poland, now feels ready to take the next step in his career, and a strong performance over the next fortnight against tough opponents would go a long way to putting him in the viewfinder of clubs in Europe’s top leagues once more.
#4 Goncalo Guedes (PSG & Portugal)
There was a great deal of hype over Goncalo Guedes in the first half of the season, when he turned out with Benfica. While in Portugal, he scored two goals and created three more in 16 league outings, and added to those by scoring two more in the Champions League.
Things have become complicated for the 20-year-old since moving to Paris Saint-Germain in January. He has struggled to earn regular game time under Unai Emery, featuring only for 284 minutes in total.
Starved of a chance to shine at the Parc des Princes, he will hope to show his qualities in this tournament in a very strong Portugal squad that also contains the likes of Rony Lopes and Renato Sanches, who starred at Euro 2016 last summer.
#5 Davie Selke (RB Leipzig & Germany)
Big things have been tipped of Germany’s Davie Selke for several years now. He has worked his way through the national team youth ranks, while trading Werder Bremen for RB Leipzig, who he helped finish second in the Bundesliga this season.
Although he was a regular in the squad for Ralf Ragnick’s side over the campaign, the centre forward scored only four goals and was largely reduced to a role as a substitute.
With first-team opportunities limited, he has already agreed to move to Hertha Berlin at the beginning of the transfer window for a fee in the region of €8 million. He has a strong record for the Under-21 side, having netted seven times in 11 outings, and he will be eager to show Leipzig they were wrong to let him go.
